Movies

'Buck' turns horseman's life into life lesson

Emily Knight

Buck Brannaman as himself in BUCK.

Buck Brannaman isn't just a horse whisperer. He's a people whisperer, too.

"Buck," a new documentary about the iconoclastic horse-trainer trainer, could almost double as a human resources training film. The film, which won the audience award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, offers a fount of aphorisms that apply as much to people as they do to ponies.

Which is part of the appeal of both the movie and its subject.

Another part of that appeal is Brannaman's compelling backstory.

As kids, Brannaman and his brother were part of a trick-roping act that won them national recognition, television appearances - even a Sugar Pops commercial. But their celebrity hid a dark secret: Their father terrorized his sons, demanding perfection and, when he felt he wasn't getting it, beating them.

Winding up in a foster home on a ranch, where encouragement replaced intimidation, Brannaman became a cowboy and later found a mentor in horse trainer Ray Hunt, whose philosophy of natural horsemanship dovetailed with Brannaman's aversion to using pain as a teaching tool.

"Why let an animal live in fear?" he asks one of his training classes. "Why not fix it?"

Brannaman soon became a legend in equine circles for his gentle approach, personable style and emotional biography. Novelist Nicholas Evans sought him out when he was writing "The Horse Whisperer" for background information; when Robert Redford got involved in the movie version, he brought Brannaman in as a consultant, and wound up basing his character on him.

"Buck" moves at a loping pace, circling back again and again to Brannaman's training sessions. Friends and people he's worked with - including Redford - speak in awe about him ("God had him in mind when he made a cowboy," one says) and how he has helped blunt the tradition of brutality in horse training.

As a manual for handling animals - and people, for that matter - Brannaman's common-sense teachings broaden his story's appeal.

"You allow a horse to make mistakes. The horse will learn from mistakes no different than a human," he tells one class in the movie. "But you can't get him to where he dreads making mistakes for fear of what's going to happen after he does."

Brannaman learned that lesson the hard way. "Buck" packages the lesson in one slick, easygoing package.

Buck **1/2

Behind the scenes: Produced by Julie Goldman. Directed by Cindy Meehl.

About Chris Foran

Chris Foran is an assistant entertainment editor, overseeing the Tap Weekend, Tap Daily, Good Morning and TV Cue sections. He also writes about movies, books, pop culture and fun stuff to do in Milwaukee.